1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling production or the recycle of photo film cartridges or lens-fitted photo film units, and more particularly to a method of managing information by use of IC memories mounted to the photo film cartridge or the film unit, for use in controlling the production process, the recycling process and quality of the photo film cartridges or the lens-fitted photo film units.
2. Background of the Invention
JPB No. 4-59627 discloses a production control method for controlling the manufacture and packing of photo film cartridges, wherein semi-products or products or components are each individually provided with an optically readable identification mark like a bar code, which is read by an optical sensor for collation at appropriate stages of the production. A general production control method using bar codes as identification marks is disclosed in JPB No. 57-28131, wherein the bar codes are used for collation between components, semi-products, products and packaging materials in order to prevent confusion between different types of components and regulate the flow of packaged products.
These production control systems using identification marks or bar codes cannot handle a sufficient amount of data necessary for tracing the production history of products. Since a new type photo film cartridge, called IX 240 type, is constituted of many components or parts compared to a conventional photo film cartridge like 135-type photo film cartridge, it is desirable to store data of each component not only for preventing confusion between different types of parts, but also for improving traceability of production history of the photo film cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,293 discloses a method of managing information for production of photo film cartridges, wherein the production processes of the photo film cartridges are supervised by computers. Data obtained from the respective processes, including feeding processes of raw materials, is collected by local computers in a real time fashion, and is transferred to a host computer, called a production information supervisory computer, to sum up as a database, so that the database may be used for many purposes such as production control, process control and quality control.
On manufacturing and packing lines of the IX 240 type photo film cartridge, all or sampled ones of semi-products or products or packaging materials are subjected to inspections. To make the most of data obtained during the inspections, it is necessary to correlate the inspection data to individual semi-products or products, or to manufacture lots. However, it takes a huge memory capacity to transfer all the data relating to the production, including the inspection data, to the production information supervisory computer, to make the database. Thus, the cost of information management inevitably increases.
A lens-fitted photo film unit, simply a film unit, is known as a product containing a photo film cartridge and having simple photographic mechanisms. After taking all available frames of photographs, the entire film unit is forwarded to a photo finisher. The photo finisher removes the photo film cartridge containing a strip of exposed filmstrip from a unit body for developing and printing. The developed filmstrip and the printed photographs are returned to the photographer.
Since the conventional film unit just has a lot number, it is only possible to know the date of manufacture, the line number and other limited production data from the lot number. Therefore, if trouble occurs in the film unit after the shipment, it is hard to trace the cause of the trouble and thus take a preventative measure against that trouble.
It is known in the art to previously record a service picture or pictures, such as illustration or title, on the filmstrip of a limited number of the film units. The design of the service picture varies depending upon where the film unit is expected to be sold or delivered. Usually, the design of the outer cover attached to the body of the film unit and that of a packaging material or gazette of the film unit are changed in accordance with the service picture. Even among those film units having no service print, the design of the outer cover and that of the packaging material tend to have many variations. To produce such specific film units, specific outer covers and specific packaging materials are set in place of standard outer covers and standard packaging materials in the conventional production control system, after a number of standard film units are produced to use up standard outer covers and standard packaging materials which are previously set in the production line.
Since it is necessary to wait till the production line completes production of standard or another kind of film units of a predetermined number, and replace the outer covers and packaging materials with another kind, producing a large variety of film units lowers the production efficiency. In addition, it is necessary to check if the combination between the outer cover, the packaging material, the unit body and the film cartridge is proper. It results in raising the total production cost.
To reduce industrial waste and prevent environmental pollution, used-up industrial products are required to be recovered for recycling. Recycling a product can be reusing the components as they are or reusing materials of the components for forming the same or other components. Hereinafter, reusing the material will be referred to as material recycling, whereas reusing the component will be referred to just as reuse. JPA No. 5-93950 discloses a method of indicating and detecting how many times and when the film unit has been recycled.
Also, JPA No. 6-161042 discloses an automatic disassembling line for the used film unit, wherein snap-in engagements between components of the film unit are disengaged to separate reusable components and those for recycling from the used film unit. Since the engaging portions are located differently according to the film unit type, it is necessary to sort the used film units according to the types before feeding them into the automatic disassembling line. For sorting, a type discrimination system of the film unit is disclosed in JPA No. 6-160048, wherein the film unit is positioned in a predetermined posture, and is photographed by a CCD camera. By comparing image data from the CCD camera with previously stored image data, the type of the film unit is determined.
The reusable components need to be examined as to whether they are practically reusable or not. U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,491 discloses an inspection apparatus for a flash unit used in the film unit, and a system for discriminating between reusable flash units, repairable flash units and others. The inspection apparatus performs an appearance test, inspections on mechanical and electrical functions. Each flash unit is placed on a pallet and conveyed sequentially to respective inspection stages. The pallet is provided with an ID unit for storing data obtained from the respective inspections. The ID unit consists of an infrared sending-receiving section, a communication interface, a CPU and a memory. At the conclusion of all inspections, data stored in the ID unit of each pallet is read out for judgement on respective inspection items as well as for total judgement.
Because the CCD camera and an image discrimination device for discriminating the type of film units based on image data are expensive, the type of discrimination system disclosed in the above prior art is expensive. Beside that, the type of discrimination system cannot discriminate between those types having the same outer appearance. Also, the discrimination system of the above U.S. patent is expensive as using a lot of pallets with the ID units each containing the CPU. Moreover, the pallets need to be inspected, which increases the number of necessary processes for the discrimination.